To Susan Sturgis de Sastre
London, August 24, 1914
Dear Susie,
. . . The Spanish papers, although of course they are belated, contain a more impartial view than the papers I see here, which even when they quote German reports, emphasize only what is obviously exaggerated or false in them, so as to make them seem absurd. The interview with a German officer of the general staff, for instance, in the ABC of the 15th instant, is very illuminating. It shows how competent the Germans are, even when their vision is dense and their sentiment narrow. He gives out the exact plan which is being carried out, and I almost think he foresees what must be the result, at least of the campaign in Belgium. This sort of thing gives me more perspective, and helps me to prepare for the disappointments which are in store for us here—I say “us”, because it is impossible not to share the sentiment of people about one, when it is strong and steady and one has no contrary passion of one’s own. My natural sympathies are anti-German, but I can’t help admiring the sureness and the immense patient effort which characterizes their action. If they overpower “us”, I am not sure that the world will be ultimately the worse for it. I say this, I confess, partly to console myself for the news of the German victory—I don’t know yet how complete—which has been given out this afternoon. We are told that “Namur has fallen”—but we are not told if that is all, and I fear there is a lot more to tell. Perhaps the Avenue de l’Observatoire may be bombarded, and Strong be relieved of the trouble of deciding what to do with his furniture, and I with my books! It would be rather amusing, and as far as that is concerned, I shouldn’t weep over it. But how much anguish everywhere, and all for what?
Yours affly Jorge
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Two, 1910-1920. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.
Location of manuscript: Alderman Library, University of Virginia at Charlottesville.